


Reality Reboot

by sechar



Category: X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men Evolution, X-Men: The Animated Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, And picked out what I wanted, And then mashed it all together, From random parts of the universe, Gen, Hooray for being a despot!, I've pretty much just taken canon, Like so alternate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-06 01:47:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6733036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sechar/pseuds/sechar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kitty Pryde was an intelligent girl, and she would never accept her parent's memories being erased, no matter what the reason for it. But she isn't dumb enough to think that they'll just let her be - a young mutant without support from someone older? Unthinkable! - so she lets it happen.</p><p>Doesn't mean she forgets, and she had a lesson ingrained into her that day.</p><p>People will do anything if they can justify it to themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reality Reboot

**Author's Note:**

> Because let's be honest: that was a little fucked up. Erasing their memories instead of explaining what really happened and having a logical, calm discussion? No, that takes far too long, and it might not go the way we want it - let's change their memories and personality so that it works out for us!
> 
> Also, my general warning applies here: there will be swearing, because I am human and don't really filter that much
> 
> (I'm putting this as 'mature', because I'm not really sure how far this will go . . . and I'm not planning on having it be child-friendly. That said, I hope you enjoy it :))

When she was little, Kitty was first told about her heritage. About how Jewish people hadn't always had good lives, about how things went wrong - about segregation, and scorn, and Nazis, and Hitler, and 'Final Solutions'.

She was eight years old.

Some would say that this was too young - much much too young, and how the innocent and naive should remain so as long as possible in this harsh world.

Her parents weren't part of that. They had seen what happened to the Jews in the Second World War, and they saw what happened to Blacks and Hispanics and Mexicans every day in America.

Naiveté and innocence would result in bad things for their little girl, and they would never condone that. So if that meant preparing her for the worst, warning her about what happened to girls who weren't careful - and history told them that it could be anyone, but they didn't want to make her that paranoid, so they settled for warning her about creeps and nights and being alone and caution.

They didn't do all of this at the tender age of eight, of course. This happened gradually over the years, with full, frank discussions so that their reasoning could be understood and Kitty comprehended that they weren't just being paranoid, but that humans could really be just that terrible.

And by the age of thirteen, Katherine 'Kitty' Anne Pryde was a little more cautious, a little more grounded, and a little more realistic than most of her peers.

Her intellect separated them as well, but it wasn't the gaping chasm that it could have been. Kitty was a naturally social girl, and she would've been bubbly and bright even without her parents' warnings about what could happen to outsiders. Not that those warnings particularly affected her personality and mannerisms, it just meant that she made a bit more of an effort to include those who weren't as . . . integrated to the main group of classmates.

So, yes, Kitty was well-liked and smart and cool and fun to be around. But she was also friends with Mike Dwyer, who sometimes stuttered and absolutely loved fantasy books. And she was friends with Katie Jones - they had mutually agreed that Kitty had to remain Kitty, as otherwise their names would be just too confusing; but it, clearly, meant that they had to be friends! - who was determined to become a cheerleader, and who was equally determined to get Kitty to do a full split. (It was progressing, but in a way that made Kitty wish her friend wasn't  _quite_ as stubborn.)

And, sure, she had her issues with people at school - Jenny Green had the most annoying voice, and she sneered at everyone, and Luke Brighton was just an ass to everyone their age and younger, and a suck-up to everyone older.

But, overall, she was happy and friendly and knew people were different and happy that way, even if that meant they didn't always get along.

* * *

Her headaches are killer. And they  _don't stop_.

Hell, they're getting to the stage where she just kinda wants someone to beat her unconscious. At least then she won't have this constant pounding happening, which just seems to keep getting louder and louder.

It's almost a relief when those older people stop by and say that they know what's happening and why. (Which is also kind of creepy, 'cause if these guys know what's happening in family's house in a different state whenever they want, what's to stop them from doing that whenever they want? Are they the creepy modern version of Santa, silently judging everyone's actions? Ew.)

* * *

They were going to erase her parent's memories. What. The. Hell.

Okay, it was kinda understandable - actually, no, it really wasn't in the least - since they were all against her leaving them (which she completely understands, but she wants them safe and she needs to understand what's happening and why so she can control it and-) and didn't seem to really like them. Which, yeah, she kinda gets, since the Professor hardly looks like a guy who's gonna be a strict disciplinarian, and Ororo seems a bit flighty (heh) and Logan is . . . not reassuring with the whole smoking and stomping and barely cut-off swearing.

So she gets it, she does. But . . . she can't let them make this decision for her.

She fell through the floor when she was asleep and woke up in the basement. And, yeah, that is utterly terrifying and really kinda scary, but she can't help but think-

_Why did I stop at the basement?_

It's . . . uncomfortable. No, it's more than uncomfortable. It's fucking terrifying. She has no idea what made her power say 'this is far enough'. She needs to know these limitations so that she knows she's not suddenly going to start sinking towards the Earth's core without any way to stop it. So that she knows she won't lose control and end up sticking her hands in someone when she gives them a hug. So that she knows exactly what she can and can't do so she doesn't push herself too far.

And, okay, she could probably figure it out by trial and error on her own - actually, that would be so much fun! A proper experiment! - but that option is firmly off the table now. Plus, there's the whole 'harming people' thing, which she has never been down with.

'Cause Emma Frost, the freaky Ice Queen lady, had made it clear that she wanted Kitty - for what, she didn't really know, but the look in her eye spelled trouble. (And even just thinking about bad ways to use her powers - what would happen if she phased, say, her hand into someone's heart then unphased it? And stealing stuff would be super-duper easy, and she already knew that she took stuff with her, otherwise she'd have woken up naked in the basement, which would have been so incredibly freaky that she's really really super glad it never happened even just _thinking_ about it) and if she was even half the amount of bad news the prof was saying, then she really wouldn't like being told no. And her parents could be the ones to pay the price so that she'd do as she wanted.

And she didn't really want to think about it, but she had to acknowledge the possibility, but the prof and his group might decide to not protect her family if she said no to both sides. Which she got, she really did, since it'd kinda be like calling herself neutral then saying 'but you should help me anyways' and that would not go down well with anyone. Didn't mean she couldn't  _want_ it, though.

So she'd resigned herself to going with the prof and his people - and Ororo was so awesome, man those weather powers are just  _incredible_ , and sure Logan's a bit gruff, but he reminds her a lot of her Uncle Jerry; tough on the outside, but the nicest guy to those he likes - and she's going to talk her parents around to it (they're sensible, and the number of logic discussions and reasoning arguments they've had means she knows that they'll get it, they're just currently doing the knee-jerk emotional response that parents do a lot) when the prof does his own thing and-

And he's just erased her parent's memories because he's impatient. She _told him_ before that she could get her parents to agree, and he'd smiled with that look in his eye that said 'so young and naive' that she saw so often and frequently dashed, because being young and cute and bubbly didn't mean dumb and oblivious and obedient - but she ignored it, 'cause she'd always gotten rid of it at the first opportunity, and he had to give her this opportunity 'cause what else was he gonna do to get her to be able to join his school?

Apparently, fuck up her parent's brains because he didn't have faith in someone he apparently so desperately wanted for his school. (Although, she had to think, did he just want her more desperately  _not_ with the Frost woman?)

She was shocked, and she protested, and she was overruled with an indulgent look shared between the adults.

That . . . cracked her belief in the Xavier Institute. Probably permanently.

They hadn't listened to her about her parents. Her  _parents. Her_ parents. If there was anything she could say with absolute certainty that she was more authoritative about than three strangers she had known for less than a week - and it felt like most of that was spent running, god her legs were sore - it was her family.

But they hadn't listened. They had ignored her. And Kitty wasn't some naive teenager still trusting in authority. And she definitely didn't trust the Xavier Institute.

Look, she got that she was young and an outsider and not really one of them yet - but they didn't even give her a chance?

No. That is not on. And her parents had paid the price for it. (Had anyone done any research into what happened long-term for people with erased memories? Was there any other damage? Were they more likely to get illnesses, or maybe disease like Alzheimers? If Xavier had screwed up her parent's brains permanently because he was _impatient_ . . .)

Some of that seemed to get through to the memory-erasing leader, 'cause he was looking at her in a measuring way.  _Mindreader, right, does my ability help? Or are there natural defences possible?_ Either way, it was something to look into.

Kitty's brain was her own, and she liked her memories where they were, and she did not want to have a part of herself erased because it was  _more convenient._

Judging by the minute flinch the Professor gave when she was thinking that, he'd gotten the message. If he'd looked a little less stricken and more guilty it would've helped, but it wasn't stopping her from doing whatever she could to keep her brain her own.  _First things first: diary writing to get all of this down. Encode it? Maybe, maybe not - depends if I can find something that doesn't really look like a code but still can't be understood by anyone but me._

* * *

It was . . . surprisingly easy to get used to living in the Xavier Institute. It was a lot like hanging out with her friends at one of their houses - it just, y'know, didn't end.

Which was fine! Really, she was completely okay with that. She liked people, and most of the people here liked her, so it was cool.

Just . . . slightly awkward at times. 'Cause she was new, and she was young, and she wasn't the bundle of existential angst a lot of them seemed to be.

Which might be a bit harsh, but she was over Scott's moping after Jean, and how life was  _so hard_ because he had to wear his glasses all the time. She kinda thought if he was really that freaked out and stressed about hurting other people by accidentally having his glasses knocked off then he should practice being blind. Like, blindfold himself for a weekend or something and keep doing it until he could walk around with his eyes permanently shut. His eyelids had clearly proven sufficient to stop his laser gaze from killing the ceiling in his sleep, so keeping his eyes shut and with those blind person sunglasses on he'd be fine. And that would probably help him in the long run, 'cause what if the lights went out or something when he was on a mission and he couldn't see? He'd be able to actually get stuff done, and-

She wasn't going to say any of this to him. He hadn't been mean or anything when she arrived, just kinda gave her a nod, but he didn't make any effort to be nice. Which was not okay in her book. Being nice didn't cost you anything, and it made things easier for you, so why couldn't people just do it?

So the most she'd do would be to think it loudly around the prof. 'Cause she might not really like him, and he'd made it clear he didn't like her, but he might stop going on about it if he could do something about it other than complain.

Jean was . . . okay, she gave her a bit of a bad feeling. It wasn't her personality or anything like that - she was nice, smart, and had a sense of humour - but it was more that . . . she seemed almost  _too_ oblivious to Scott. And the guy was not subtle. So either she was ridiculously in love with that jock she was with - unlikely - or she was . . . stringing him along? 'Cause she had absolutely no problems with hanging out with him and studying and that sort of thing, but wasn't that a bit cruel?

So she was friendly with Jean, but they weren't friends. She'd give her a hand if she asked, but she wasn't doing any free favours for someone who had no problem not making a decision between two guys. (Actually, was that what it was about? Was this her way of ensuring her popularity by showing that she could have any guy she wanted? It might be judgemental and she could be making a totally wrong assumption, but . . .)

And she was getting used to Kurt. It was stupid, and immature, and it completely wasn't Kurt's fault and he was a really nice guy and everything but-

He kinda freaked her out.

He was blue, and he had a _tail,_ he was covered in  _fur,_ and he didn't have normal feet and hands. And she should be fine with that, but he kept jumping out at her and her knee-jerk reaction was always something like "Eek!" and automatically phasing . . . which he finds hilarious and so just keeps on doing it.

If it were any other guy, she'd roll her eyes, sigh about boys, and then get her own back on him (probably involving his hair; he was almost as vain about it as Jean was hers, which was saying something). But she didn't. Because he genuinely freaked her out whenever he did that without his image-inducer, those fangs of his eyes stretched into a wild grin just triggering something in her head that said 'danger!' and making her fight-or-flight response kick in.

The Professor knows. And it might be that he doesn't care, or that he thinks they can work it out in time, but it feels a lot like petty vengeance to her on his part for her not falling into line with his plans as soon as he walked into her life. And she's determined to both overcome her current subconscious fear of Kurt, because he really is an awesome guy (and they could have  _so much_ fun with their powers combined, it would be glorious) and she's stubborn like that.

Rogue is brilliant. Plain and simple. It would be even better if she'd actually listen to her when she talked about her clothing choices - seriously, covering up doesn't mean you have to look like a dweeb, that's where skin-tight clothes and gloves come into it - but the girl really  _got_ her in a way that she hadn't had before. She listened to her when she talked about her parents and how much she missed them, and she didn't say anything against it when she talked about how the Prof had wiped their minds without even trying to find a different way. Rogue could be pretty quiet when she wanted to be, but this silence had the flavour of a deep sadness, like she wasn't surprised to hear that something so terrible could happen without warning but she hadn't really expected to find it here. Or maybe she was reading too much into it. Either way, Rogue was a brilliant friend, and she was pretty sure that Rogue relaxed with her, which didn't happen much with most of the people staying at the place, 'cause she really had absolutely no faith in her powers. Kitty didn't think that was the smartest thing to do, but it was Rogue's choice, and she listened to Kitty without judging or telling her what to do, so the least she could do was return the favour and support her where possible. And maybe tackle hug her occasionally just for kicks. (Hey, she never said she'd be a  _nice_ friend to her!)

But she doesn't forget what happened, and how everyone seems to view their power/s as the best choice no matter the situation, sometimes even the only choice despite the situation. Which she wasn't going to do.

'Cause if she did that . . . then she couldn't really go back to her parents. She would always be a mutant first, and whilst she might always be safe, she didn't think she'd be very happy.

Especially with the blue lady planning something big. (And, seriously, had no one questioned whether the one blue lady they knew was related to the one blue guy they knew? Sure she was a shapeshifter, but didn't that mean it was more likely for her to be his mom? 'Cause the chances of the only two blue people who lived in the same town  _not_ being related - if there was two already, then there was probably more; they just had to be hiding like Kurt was - was, like,  _astronomically_ small. But she certainly wasn't going to say something without, like, a DNA test being done, since it was all circumstantial otherwise. And having one of the only other happy people in this place stop being happy might actually make her punch someone in sheer frustration.) And if the blue lady was planning something big, she wanted to have options, like the ability to blend in with humans as though she didn't have any special power, no sirree, she was just as run of the mill as most teenage girls, and did you know why that was such a stupid saying, because, you know, there are-

Okay, so babbling wasn't the most impressive tool in the box, but it certainly worked most of the time. And she wasn't dumb, and she worked hard, and she was getting better, and she wanted to  _live._

And she hadn't properly thought about it once she'd found out about her power, but she still had to make plans. College, and a career, and maybe even kids one day (but not for a long, long while, like, at least thirty years) and she couldn't do that if she got pigeon-holed as the one person who could never be hurt.

* * *

She'd been thinking about it, you see. 

Her intangibility, her phasing - whatever they were calling it nowadays when they thought about the little girl who couldn't be stopped with greed in their eyes.

Which was pessimistic and cynical, but people looked for power wherever they could find it - and this would be right up the alley of some sick people, that's for sure.

It would even seem like a dream to them, if they could get their hands on her whilst she wasn't as set in her ways.

It wouldn't even be that hard; she knew about what the Nazis had done, and doubtless all the evil bastards that came after them had learned from their very public, well-documented failures. 

(It would be so very very easy, she knew. A few whispers in her ear, some superficial concern for her, maybe even a few talks about justice and pride and patriotism; couple it all with very painful consequences if she didn't obey and she would be damn deadly. She couldn't be physically hurt, which wasn't the main part that would concern any trainers/masters she might have holding her leash, but she would always be able to get there and fulfill whatever mission they assigned her. It was one of the main reasons she was staying here, if she was totally honest.)

Kitty wasn't stupid. Her ability almost wanted to be controlled, was seriously responsive to whatever training she did; hell, if this ability was truly malicious or something like a curse (she'd thought that in the very beginning, with about seventeen percent of her being. She'd had all those folk tales growing up, okay?) she wouldn't have stopped falling when she first activated it.

And she wouldn't now be able to walk through walls but with her feet not sinking down even an inch. Her hands went through so many things in her curiosity - the toaster, the table, the floor, sometimes even Kurt's head when he was being particularly annoying and there wasn't anyone around to scold her for it - but the only things that ever went wrong were active electronics.

So it was something on a sub-atomic level; after all, it was electrons that carried the charge in electrical circuits, so for them to be affected it had to be working on  _at least_ a subatomic level. And if it was working on a level smaller than that, it was somehow managing not to harm the other atoms and the spaces between them that made up everything else that had been prey for her play- experiments. Cough.

And she was working on it! Both on figuring out how her powers worked, and how she could use them.

Would she be able to partially phase herself, like just the one finger and leave the rest of her hand out? Could she maybe phase, like,  _just her mind_ , and be protected from any mind readers that way? Would she be able to phase her mind at all? Or would her time for keeping up her intangibility increase? Could she increase what she could make intangible to others? Or, wait, to do that, would she have to use her own body as a conduit? Or could she, maybe, temporarily, perhaps, make something intangible for other people just by touching it?

There was so much to do, and not really enough time for it, and she was pretty grateful that she wasn't  _really_ expected to do a lot because she was young and a girl. Which was stupid and blind, but she'd take it 'cause it let her do what she needed to get done and what she wanted to get done, not what other people thought she had to get done.

And she wasn't becoming an X-Man - which, sexist much? - no matter what the Professor said, unless it was for a truly outstanding case. She'd be, like, an auxiliary member, like all those upper-class women did during the first world war since their families wouldn't let them do much else

And she meant, like, apocalyptic outstanding. 'Cause while she might not agree with everything the Prof did/does, she didn't want the world to end. Her family lived there, for one thing, and she lived there, for another, and she wanted to keep on living,  _thank_ you very much.

But she wasn't a fighter and she wasn't going to become a fighter, and her mutation pretty much marked her out as a 'flight' person so she was fine with that. Violence always gave her the shakes, and she would hesitate too much to be of any use, and she would just rely on her power and her teammates instead of standing on her own which was not acceptable.

She was Katherine Anne Pryde, Jewish, and her parent's only child. She was a mutant. She was a white teenager. She was going to make  _her_ plans happen, no matter what other people wanted.

And her plans included learning and understanding her powers, getting good grades in high school, getting accepted to Washington University for her maths, graduating at least with a solid B average (she's talked to people who've been through college, and they seem to have a haunted look when they talk about exams. She doesn't think it's a coincidence that the whole 'C's get degrees' thing almost sounds like a mantra when it trips off their lips.), and getting a job - preferably near to where her parents are - that involves her degree.

So she'll go jogging (or running, depending on whether someone's with her and how grumpy they are) and she'll talk strategy and she'll do self-defence (she's not an _idiot_ ) but she's not going to fight for them.

She's selfish enough to want to fight her own battles and those of her loved ones and her friends (well, sometimes. The stupid ones - like Rogue's determination that she can get Scott to snap and which she _totally_ doesn't have a bet on - she'll leave alone) and let the rest of the world take care of itself.

She's fifteen and she's going to live. And that doesn't mean surviving, or just lurching from one disaster to another - it means that she works for her plans and makes them happen. And her goals about her whole mutanty-ness includes learning to understand it, to control it, and sustain it.

Not fighting. Not hurting other people because someone pointed her at them like a gun for reasons she didn't really understand.

Kitty had not signed up to be a soldier, and she wasn't going to let someone turn her into one. She would fight for herself if she wanted to, and she would fight for her ideals, but she would always prioritise fighting with words over shoving her fist into someone's body with force.

And the Prof could make all the sad-but-understanding looks he wanted at her: she signed up for a school that would teach her how to train her powers, not some kind of military academy. And if he didn't like it, she had absolutely no problem defecting.

Oh, probably not to the 'other side', but she wouldn't be Switzerland to someone who overruled her on the subject of her parents' minds and then tried to turn her into a thrall of his own.

And it was dangerous to even think it, but she was sensible and pragmatic enough to think it: she could be a dangerous enemy.

Not now, probably; the longest she could keep herself intangible was at five minutes and sixteen seconds, and the heaviest thing she'd been able to phase through a concrete wall carrying was about fifteen pounds. But she was working on it, and she was improving, and . . . that was making her stronger.

So she'd stay here as a student, 'cause it was safest for her mom and dad, and it was the easiest way to improve her powers since she could talk to other people and get their opinions and use their equipment - all things she wouldn't have if she was back at home trying to figure to all out by herself.

But she wasn't forgetting what the Prof had so thoughtlessly done, and how nobody had really questioned it or talked to her about it afterwards.

And she was starting to get tired of making excuses for the others. Yeah, they were all teenagers, but that wasn't an excuse to be stupid and not careful with their powers!

If the wrong person found out, they could have a war on their hands. Someone high up in politics who was paranoid (and the number who weren't paranoid was, like, _eclipsed_ by the number that were) - if they heard even a portion of what they were doing now as dumb kids . . . they'd be terrified of what they would do as proper adults who actually knew what they could do.

And none of the people her age really got that! The adults, they knew, and they told everyone that they had to keep their powers a secret and under control, but they never went any  _further_ than that. Telling someone not to do something without an explicitly detailed warning was going to do nothing, and if  _Kitty_ knew that, then surely they had to have figured it out by now!

And even Kurt and Rogue, who were arguably the most realistic about the world than the others (the white, middle-class, born-and-bred American others) seemed to really get what could happen. 'Cause all it took was one accident that was witnessed, and they could all be condemned.

Most people in general wouldn't be okay with teenagers being killed; but teenagers grew up, propaganda was a powerful thing, and self-preservation more powerful still. If push came to shove, Kitty was pretty sure they'd be on their own, with limited support from humans in general. Her parents would be with them as much as they safely could, and surely some people wouldn't get into it . . . but Germany had killed her people, and the vast majority of them hadn't been Nazis. They had been ordinary people who looked the other way, too fearful and wanting to live to dare put try and put a stop to the deaths of millions.

* * *

When she couldn't sleep at night, she thought about her power.

It made her relieved when she was feeling her most negative, when she was thinking about how many ways this could all go so wrong.

'Cause she could run, and get away, and no matter what . . . they wouldn't be able to touch her.

She was never going to use the word 'invulnerable' - that was just  _asking_ for trouble - but she was pretty damn near to it.

When she was phased, she was untouchable. Not bullets, or a grenade, or a punch, or a missile (okay, maybe a missile; she hadn't exactly had the chance to test that) could touch her.

The only time she could be hurt was when she was unprepared, or maybe if they tried a gas or something. She still had to breathe, even when intangible, and she would be surprised if her body managed to automatically filter out the particles. Actually, that was something to think about. She already hypothesised that her power worked on a subatomic level, but clearly she was able to inhale oxygen (two atoms bonded together) and exhale carbon dioxide (three atoms bonded together) - so did her power automatically allow vital life functions? Or were those particular compounds excluded? And, maybe, could she train her power to work semi-complete and fully internally? Could she make her power work just internally at all, or was it restricted to an 'all-or-nothing' thing?

It would take time, but that was fine with her. She didn't have an urgent need right now -no one currently wanted to poison her (okay, Scott maybe, but he wouldn't  _kill_ her) - and so long as her numbers kept improving she was satisfied with her progress.

* * *

The school here was . . . nice. It didn't have her friends like her old one did, but it was still a pretty decent school. They had good supplies, the teachers were . . . fine (well, so long as you weren't trying to aggravate them,  _Kurt_ ).

It was fine. It wasn't great, or terrible, but it was fine.

She'd be fine here. And it wasn't like high school was the most important stage of her life - hell, it was only, like, five years? Which, given that the average lifespan of a white female in America was something like 80 currently, was barely anything in the bigger picture.

So it was fine, and she'd be fine.

* * *

 

 Kitty was adjusting.

The people here were . . . well, people. They had flaws, and strengths, and preferences, and made snap judgments and were biased and were  _human._

So long as she remembered that, no matter how a person looked, or acted, or even wanted - they were all human.

So they made mistakes, and they had weaknesses, and they could do so very many things.

She just had to keep remembering.

**Author's Note:**

> Beware: the amount of comics I've read of X-men was both a) years ago and b) not many. And I'm pretty much ignoring the movies, because the amount of similarity that has to comic cannon is minimal for the person of Kitty Pryde.  
> So the relationship of this and cannon, with the differences I've already made to her back story? Yeah, there's not going to be much of it.
> 
> PS: screw comic logic. Some of that shit is messed up, and my version of Kitty Pryde says 'fuck that'  
> PPS: doubly screw 'X-men: Days of Future Past'. That is not happening.


End file.
